STINA - SUMMERS IN MARIANA

Summers In Mariana is the sophomore LP by Perth based avant-songstress Stina. Written over the period of two years in her home, the record was born out of a desire to create an upwardly optimistic and iridescent collection of instrumental passages – songs that reflected the glimmer of summer’s light. But not all things go as planned – if they did, we’d all be just a little bit bored.

As Stina toiled away at the record, the instruments and their surroundings began to shape the songs more than expected. A 1920s harmonium, which previously served the Salvation Army on the road, was a key instrument used in the early stages of writing and its slightly detuned melodies came to infect many other musical elements. Before long the idea of A-440 tuning was a mere memory and the imagined summery sounds took on a slightly more indoor sentiment.

It wasn’t long before Stina realized that the music she was creating wasn’t mere summer-inspired pop, it had a sense of place far more homely – as if each room in which she was recording was shaping the songs’ character. The light of summer, filtered through her curtains and reflected off her wall paper was imprinting itself on her music.

Summer In Mariana is in many ways a new form of contemporary chamber music. The songs were created in different rooms of Stina’s house and now she is opening her house to you, inviting you inside to imagine your own setting in which these songs might exist. This is music of the home, for the home. Melodic light sweetly filtered through parted curtains, the shadows on the floor telling little stories of time spent indoors.